Causes of the First World War

In the summer of 1914 a massive war was started between the great powers.

In this essay I will investigate the causes of World War 1 and try to workout which country or countries were to blame for starting it.

In the 1800’s, Britain was by far the leading nation. It had an enormousworld-wide empire and powerful navy to protect the large amount of landoverseas that it owned. Britain manufactured many different goods, whichwere exported to other countries, including Germany. Before 1900 Britainwas the world’s leading industrial power, with it’s main rival beingFrance. Britain was by far the leading European power, but it feared othercountries building up a larger navy and catching it up, especially Germany.

Britain knew that Germany had caught up with it in industrial productionand that Germany’s leaders also had strong ambitions to build up a world-wide empire, like Britain already had. In 1914 Britain had an empire of 27million km and Germany only had 2.5 million km, but Britain was stillworried.

In 1870 there was a war between Germany and France called the Franco-Prussian war. The Germans captured a piece of French land called Alsace-Lorraine. The French wanted the Alsace-Lorraine back and were still worriedthat the Germans may attack again. Previously the French had had a fairlysmall army, but they expanded it and built strong fortresses on theirborder with Germany.

In 1908 Kaiser Willhelm, the king of Germany and the ruler of the Germanarmy announced that he intended to develop the German navy. Germany startedto build more battleships. Because Britain was worried about Germanycatching it up and having a larger navy, Britain also started to build morebattleships. In 1906 Britain launched HMS Dreadnaught, a new battleship,which could get up to speeds of 21 knots. It was faster and more powerfulthan any other warship. The Germans copied the British and started to buildtheir own Dreadnaughts. In 1914 Germany had 17 Dreadnaughts and Britain had29. Even though Britain was well ahead in the Naval Race, it was worriedthat it could not fund many more of these ships to be built and thatGermany would continue to build more of these battleships and threatenBritain’s naval supremacy.

In the 1800’s the very large country of Russia was a very backward country,with a large population. It also had a large army, but it was badlyequipped and poorly led. Russia was quite a poor country which hardly hadany industry at all. Russia, along with France and Britain, was worriedabout Germany’s growing strength.

In 1904 France and Britain became allies. Fear of Germany’s apparentlyaggressive policies led these countries to join in military alliance.

Because Russia was also worried about Germany’s growth, France and Russiamade a similar defensive agreement and became allies in 1907. This alliancebetween Britain, France and Russia was known as the Triple Entente.

Because Russia was a very backward country the other two countries in theTriple Entente planned to help Russia become more powerful. Some ways thatthey planned to do this were by funding its army to help it improve, byfunding it’s transport network to improve communications and to help thearmy get from one place to another more quickly and also by helping it tobecome more industrial.

Germany was surrounded by the three countries in the Triple Entente.

Germany’s leaders were worried by this and they started to make militaryplans, in case France and Russia jointly declared war on them. Thecountries in the Triple Entente knew that they were in a good position.

They desperately wanted to weaken Germany and stop it becoming a verypowerful country. Another country that surrounded Germany, but was notagainst it was Austria-Hungary.

Previously Germany had formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary. This wasbecause the Austrians felt threatened by the Russians and by nationalism inthe Balkans (an area of land in south-east Europe.)The Russians wanted the Austrian empire (made up of many differentnationalities) to fall apart because the Russians wanted a chance to expandtheir influence into Europe. Russia had a long-term aim of gaining ports onthe coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Austrians were particularly worriedby Serbia. Austria owned the land to the west of Serbia, called Bosnia.

However many of the people living in Bosnia were Serbs. Austria did notwant Serbia to expand but Serbia wanted a coastline. Russia was friendswith Serbia and thought that their friendship would increase theirinfluence in the Balkans. This put the Russians in direct conflict with theAustrian government. Serbia was made up of mainly Slavs and wanted to bringthem all together into one country. Austria-Hungary didn’t agree with theidea of Slavs being united because it was concerned that the large numberof Slavs that lived in its lands would not want to live in its landsanymore and would join with Serbia.

So, Austria-Hungary had conflicts with the Russians about the Balkans andalso with Serbia because of Serbia’s friendship with Russia and Serbia’sideas about Panslavism (uniting the Slavs.)Previously Austria-Hungary had an alliance with Germany. The Austrianswanted this alliance because they felt threatened by the Russians and bynationalism in the Balkans.

The Italians did not really have any reasons to be part of an alliance.

They were an ambitious nation and wanted to be part of an alliance, just tobe seen as a significant country and an important European power. Italy,Germany and Austria-Hungary became the Triple Alliance in 1882.

In 1910 there were two defensive agreements; the Triple Alliance and theTriple Entente. Each country promised to help and defend it’s allies ifthey were attacked. Some people thought that the defensive agreements werea good idea, because they would prevent countries from declaring warbecause it would lead to their own destruction. Others thought that it wasnot such a good idea and it was very dangerous because instead of smallerwars between two countries like the Franco-Prussian war, a huge warinvolving all of the powers would happen, which would be started by a minordispute between just two countries. Also it was dangerous because cleverdiplomats from both sides sometimes tested and threatened the other side tosee how they reacted. This was called brinkmanship and it often got out ofcontrol.

The Triple Entente had placed a “ring of steel” around Germany. Germanywould have stood no chance if the Triple Entente chose to attack it before1906. In 1906 Germany’s war minister Count Alfred von Schlieffen who wasworried about this made military plans to defeat both the French and theRussians, should they declare war on Germany. This plan was called theSchlieffen Plan. He thought that if there was going to be a war then thehuge country of Russia would be slow to mobilize because they would havesuch long way to go with a very backward transport system. Because Germanythought that it would take Russia a couple of months to have it’s forcesready, he planned to defeat the French first and then go and deal with theRussians. It was planned that the Germans would invade France through theneutral country of Belgium, so that the French wouldn’t realize what washappening until the Germans got close to their country. The Germans thenplanned to surround Paris, win the battle and move the bulk of the armyaway again to fight the Russians. This plan was worked out precisely downto every last detail. Even the train times were planned down to every lastminute.

The Austrian-Hungarian government strongly opposed the Serbs ideas aboutPanslavism. Some Serbs began to carry out acts of terrorism in Austria-Hungary because they disagreed with the government. Several secretsocieties were formed in Serbia and were dedicated to throwing theAustrians out of the Balkans. One of the well-known terrorist group wascalled the Black Hand.

On June 28th 1914 the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne and his wifevisited Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. The Black Hand saw this as anopportunity to protest about the Austrians taking over Bosnia to stopSerbian expansion. Several members of the Black Hand were waiting for thearchduke when he visited Sarajevo. Firstly a bomb was thrown at his car,which miraculously did not hit him. After this incident Franz Ferdinand wasgoing to leave Sarajevo. His driver turned the car around and as he wasdoing so, one of the members of the Black Hand, Gavrillo Princip fired twoshots at the car. The first killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the secondkilled his wife, Countess Sophia.

After this event Austria-Hungary was very annoyed with Serbia and blamedthem for the killing of the archduke. They accused the Serbian governmentof helping Princip. This then annoyed Serbia because it was not actuallytheir country, but a small group of Bosnian Serbs. Austria-Hungary declaredwar on Serbia. Before doing so they checked that their German allies wouldstand by them. The Austrian-Hungarians attacked Belgrade, the capital ofSerbia.

On the 29th July the Russian army got ready to help Serbia defend itselfagainst the Austrians. The next day Germany, being in the Triple alliancewith Austria-Hungary, sent a threatening message to the Russians orderingthem not to help Serbia.

Because Austria-Hungary didn’t like Serbia this caused Germany to declarewar on Russia. Germany also began to move its army towards France andBelgium, because France was a member of the Triple Entente along withRussia. The French army was aware of this and was put on war alert, readyto fight a German invasion.

On the 3rd and 4th of August Germany invaded France through neutralBelgium. Britain, being on France’s side, ordered Germany to leave Belgium.

When Germany refused, Britain declared war.

On the 6th August Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, because Russiawas friendly with Serbia, whom Austria-Hungary had already declared war onand Russia had tried to defend. Also Austria-Hungary had had previousconflicts with Russia about the Balkans.

The German’s meticulously planned Schlieffen Plan actually failed. It was alot weaker in practice than the German’s had expected because they wereslowed down by fierce resistance in Belgium. The British succeeded at theBattle of Mons and pushed the Germans to the east of Paris. The French hadsent the Russians money to develop the army, who mobilized more quicklythan the Germans had expected. The Germans had to send two divisions of thearmy to try to stop them on the Eastern front.

There was a deadlock on the Western front by the end of September 1914because both sides dug trenches which eventually stretched from the channelcoast to the Swiss border. The war of movement was over.

I will now try to work out which were the most important and relevantcauses of the war, which country or countries actually caused World War 1and whether the long term or the short term causes were more important.

Because many of the countries declared war on each other, one country cannot be solely to blame.

The disputes between the different countries before and after they joinedthe alliances were about nationalism. From 1870 to 1914 the French wantedthe Alsace Lorraine back. Russia wanted to gain ports on the coast, Serbiawanted independence in the Balkans and Austria-Hungary was worried aboutnationalism within its empire.

This nationalism led to imperialism. France and Germany were rival empires,so were Russia and Austria-Hungary and Serbia and Austria-Hungary.

Militarism also caused imperialism. Britain and Germany were rival empiresbecause of the Naval Race. France helped Russia to become more powerful byfunding its army. The German Schlieffen Plan that finally pushed Europeinto war.

It was also the alliance system that made so many countries become involvedin the war. Instead of sorting out problems by having small disputesbetween two different countries, the alliance system made many morecountries become involved, just because they were defending their allies.

Some people would blame Serbia for starting World War 1. After all they didassassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which started the whole chain ofevents. Serbia also stirred up trouble among the southern Slavs.

Some people would say that Russia should share the blame with the Serbs.

This is because Serbia could not have been as powerful without Russiansupport. Russia also stirred up trouble with the Slavs. It was also theRussians that mobilised in July, which then caused the Germans to mobiliseand declare war. If I was to decide which one of the two countries (Russiaand Serbia) declared war then I would blame Russia. This is because thewhole of Serbia was not to blame for assassinating Franz Ferdinand, it wasjust a small group of Bosnian Serbs and it was the Russians who mobilisedfirst. It is unfair to blame Russia for the war because Russia was underpressure to mobilise from France’s ambassador.

Some historians think that it was actually Germany that started the war.

They think this because they seized the Alsace Lorraine in 1870, which madethe French angry with the Germans. They also started the naval race whichmade the British people angry with the Germans. In 1908 Germany threatenedRussia with war, and planned exactly what they would do if any of themembers of the Triple Entente started to mobilise, which pushed Europe intowar. Also without Germany’s support ( Germany being the most powerfulcountry in the Triple Alliance), Austria-Hungary would not have declaredwar on Serbia or on Russia.

Some people blame Austria-Hungary for starting the war. They were the firstpeople to declare war. Maybe if they hadn’t have declared war on Serbiathen Russia wouldn’t have mobilised and the war wouldn’t have started. Itwas Austria-Hungary that placed the blame on Serbia for the assassination,when actually it was not the Serbian government or the whole of Serbia’sfault.

Other people may say that Austria-Hungary is not to blame for Russiamobilising, but it was actually France. The French didn’t stop the Russiansfrom mobilising, they helped them. Also France’s ambassador in Russia urgedRussia to declare war on the countries in the Triple Alliance.

It was not just France that could have stopped the war from happening.

Britain could have warned Germany that they would fight alongside Russiaand France, to scare the Germans and make them see that the Schlieffen Planwould not work and they would have to fight three countries, instead oftwo.

The only country that is free from blame is Italy.

Not being biased, I think that Britain is almost free from blame as well.

The Germans should’ve at least worked out which countries were going tofight in the war before they worked out the train time tables! It isunderstandable that Britain did not want to be overpowered by Germany andit was the Germans that started the Naval Race, between the two countries.

Britain did not want the Germans to get ahead of them so they had no choicebut to join in with the naval race to try to stay ahead of their enemy.

France is also almost blame free. It made sense that France should helpRussia to mobilise, after all they both hated Germany and didn’t want it tobecome powerful. Russia was a very backward country so France helped it tobecome more modern.

Apart from Britain and France I think that Serbia should have the smallestshare of the blame. Some Serbs disagreed with Panslavism and protestedagainst it. I don’t really blame Gavrilo Princip because he was standing upfor what he believed in and he did not know that a war would be startedafter the shooting. The assassination at Sarajevo was just a perfect excusea war to begin. Germany and Britain had been looking for an excuse to starta war for a long time before that.

Some people may think that Gavrilo Princip is to blame because he startedthe chain of events in June 1914, but actually arguments were happeningbetween the countries well over 30 years before the assassination.

Germany started the arguments by seizing the Alsace Lorraine in 1870.

Germany was also the first country that wanted an alliance system, which itmade with Austria-Hungary. Also Germany ignored the Treaty of London whichwas signed by Britain and other European nations, promising to protectBelgium’s neutralityEven though no country is solely to blame, if I had to blame one countryfor starting the war then it would be Germany. This is because if Germanydid not start making defensive agreements and did not start the battle forpower then there would have been no arguments about the Morocco (with theMoroccans), the Alsace Lorraine(with the French), no Naval Race(against theBritish), no Schlieffen Plan (against the Triple Entente) and thebrinkmanship wouldn’t have got so out of hand.

It is not just the Germans fault that the war started. There were manydifferent causes, both long term and short term. There were many disputesabout things in the past and there were short term causes but I don’t thinkthat the war would have happened if the Triple Alliance, the Triple Ententeand the alliance between Serbia and Russia had not been formed. Thesealliances could, and did, create a huge war out of a small dispute. I blamethe suspicions and assumptions that all of the countries involved made. Allof the countries were suspicious of each other and some of these suspicionshad gone on for hundreds of years. All of these suspicions made Britain avery tense place. All of the countries wanted to show that themselves andtheir allies were stronger than their enemies.

Many assumptions also were made. The Germans just assumed that the Britishwould not join the war.

If I had to blame a single cause for starting the war then it would be theSchlieffen Plan. It was very dangerous because the military chiefs plannedto start mobilising the German army just before war was declared and oncethey mobilised it would be very difficult to stop them. The Schlieffen Planled to hasty decisions to declare war being made.

I blame the long term causes more than the short term causes. This isbecause a long time before the war there were more meaningful disputes overland and power. The short term causes such as the assassination of thearchduke just sparked off the war.